Debbie and I had conspired once again to jump on the Yamaha FJR 1300 and head west from Albuquerque, NM. in late July. We visited our dear sailing amigos Paul and Kathy off of the sailing vessel Tequila Rose at their home in Chino Valley Arizona. The trip started out great with sunny sky’s and warm temperatures. On this trip we left our small tent trailer at home as we would be staying with friends along the way.
Paul and Kathy were fun as always finding a near by winery with live music and we drank and danced to our heart’s content. One of the special events for me was a ride in Paul’s special addition model corvette. I must admit it is a real toss you back in the seat ride when Paul stomps on it putting those 600 pony’s and that 6-speed transmission to work.
It was a short two day stop and we were soon off to Needles, California and some fun on the Colorado River with my nephew Jerry Jr. and his family and many other people that we have become friends with. Needles has to be one of the hottest places in California, not much cooler than the Mohave desert itself.. It was 118* when we rolled into the resort on the river and would reach 122* before the day was done. When there you can only Thank God for the cool temperature of the Colorado River. The river is truly a life savor for all that venture to this smoldering peace of earth. Debbie and I spent most of our time half in the river or cruising the river with Jerry in his pontoon boat with a dozen others taking in the sights of this rugged terrain that runs along the river.
Once again two really fun filled days had slipped away from us and we were off to Phoenix, Arizona to visit another very fun sailing couple Randy and Jerry. We thought we would play it smart and depart at o-dark thirty beating the heat and get to Phoenix by noon. We were staying in an airconditioned motel six and set that alarm for 5 am and jumped up when the alarm went off. Soon I was out the door to uncover the bike in preparation to get on down the road. Stepping out the motel door I was shocked to be greeted by a 99* temperature that was not just suffocating, but way to hot way to early for this ride to the south.
Deb and I grabbed a sausage sandwich at Mc Donald’s and were off to Phoenix. Once again our phone mapping system shut down as we were close to our friends house and we needed that little blue line to find our way there. It seems that once the temperature hits 108* it is just to much for the phone. A phone call to Jerry and Randy gave us the directions we were needing to arrive at our destination.
Once again we had a good time and ended up in a swimming pool to deal with the 112* temperature at a beautiful homeowners club house, of course the inflation on all the prices makes one’s head swim at just how costly things are becoming everywhere. The next morning was a little cooler than Needles and the really good thing was our route home was at a much higher altitude with the road winding up through the mountains just 20 minutes down the road.
Debbie and I have trouble seeing why people would live where it is so freaking hot in the summer??
Sturgis Adventure Aug. 2nd. 2022.
Just two weeks later Deb and I hooked up our trailer and headed for Sturgis, South Dakota, a planned two week escape to motorcycle’s Largest motorcycle rally in the world.
Our first night was spent up on Raton Pass NM. at over 8000 ft. elevation at Lake Alice, NM. The camp host was quick to warn us about the presence of Bears and that it was our responsibility to make sure all food and even tooth paste must be locked up in a bear box. Now Debbie’s hair was standing up on the back of her neck. I personally think she just lacks confidence in the actual strength of the fabric of our tent in Bear paradise. The camp ground was a very nice one and the individual sites were large and well shaded. Debbie spent most of the night listening intently for the bears that failed to arrive.
Our next leg of the journey took us up over Raton pass and down a very isolated series of highways across the eastern portion of Colorado. These two lane roads have no shoulder it goes from pavement to grass that slopes away into ditches on either side of the road. I mean if you had a flat or broke down you would need to block of one lane of this Hwy until you could make repairs or get towed.
Our next camp site was at Branch, Colorado at a municipal park. This is a downtown campground convenient to stores but not a woodsy site by any means but clean and nice all the same.
Debbie and I grabbed a super 8 motel in Hot Springs, South Dakota after a hot day crossing the western end of Nebraska. It was nice to have the air conditioning after rolling through the corn and sunflower fields of Nebraska. We were now just two hours out of Sturgis and the push north could now slack and a much more relaxed atmosphere was upon us and the real fun could begin. Debbie and I shared this motel with a dozen other cyclists and bike sightings were definitely on the rise.
Aug-5th-2022 we rolled into Sturgis and on to “Hog Heaven” where we had reserved a camp site for the 6-days we were to spend there. The day was sunny and nice, the people that checked us in were very courteous and friendly. The camp ground was very scenic with lots of trees and shade for all.
We assembled our tent once again but this time it would be up for six days and here we were at a place that was friendly and had live entertainment each night. The showers were hot and clean and plenty of them. They had out houses placed every 150 ft. along the road and they were pumped out every day and washed down. We would gladly stay here again. The only down side were the little black flies that bite like mosquitos and long pants are a must in the evening.
This first day we just kicked back at the camp site and later moseyed on down to the live music for some dancing and beers.
On our second day we went into Sturgis and braved the throngs of bikers and bikes. Never have I ever seen any thing like this. The bikes were beautiful and the people friendly. Sturgis is amazing and also pricey so we had a buffet breakfast and it was $18 dollars a breakfast. Fortunate for us we had brought plenty of food so our eating out was kept down to about once a day and we had a blast everyday we were there. Much of our time was spent biking to beautiful sites around the area on the absolutely best Highways I have ever rode on. In South Dakota they don’t do shady road work as most highways are concrete.
Of course we spent lots of time looking at different rally shirts and after a while you just have to walk away and think about it. It seems you can buy cheap shirts that might not survive the first wash cycle or 30- 50-dollars for something real nice.
Debbie and I came here not in a gang but when you ride in this area with 500K bikes you often end up in packs of 40 or more bikes and you see them going in all directions all day long and into the night. Debbie said she actually got a headache just looking at all the bikes. We rode about 400 miles in the area visiting cool places like Dead Wood City where Wild Bill Hickock was killed. The next day we visited Mount Rushmore and learned of how they blasted those faces out of the mountain. The following day we were off to the Devils Tower in Wyoming, and our last day was spent buying more T shirts and kicking back.
Time went fast and soon we were homeward bound catching two motels and the camp site at Lake Alice once again sleeping with the bears. We seen no bears but Debbie did come face to face with a very large deer in the camp ground.
We did hear that the last night of the rally two rival gangs got into a fight and two people were stabbed to death and one person shot in the neck who did survive. I think this is amazing as the population of this small town had swelled to nearly a million people all drinking, armed and out for a good time over a period of 10-days. Like think how many people died in Chicago over the same 10-day span and I can only say I will take my chances at Sturgis every time.
The one thing I don’t understand is all the people that ride with out helmets. Nine people died in bike crashes over the duration of the rally. I don’t know who had helmets and who did not but the odds are the majority of these people were not wearing helmets.
We are planning one more outing on the bike mid September. more on that later.
Your Amigos, Jeff & Debbie.
Paul and his Hot Corvette
Debbie and Kathy in Chino Valley Arizona.
Debbie thinking about getting her own bike.
